List of UFO sightings involving military personnel

From the February 1942 Battle of Los Angeles anti-aircraft barrage onward, active-duty and retired members of military organizations have reported encounters with unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP); these UFO sightings involving military personnel are compiled below. Such encounters are considered significant in UFO research because witnesses have formal training in aerial identification and access to radar and sensor systems.

Notes on U.S. Navy Roosevelt encounters (2014–2015)

Ryan Graves, a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet pilot with eleven years of service, described how his squadron began detecting anomalous objects daily after upgrading to a newer AN/APG-79 AESA radar system operating off the eastern seaboard from 2014 onward. The objects were tracked both on radar and on FLIR/IR systems, and were reported as completely stationary in 140 mph winds at altitude, as well as maneuvering at speeds between 240 and 330 knots without conventional propulsion signatures. Witnesses described the objects as dark gray or black cubes inside a clear transparent sphere, with no wings and no visible propulsion. During the USS Theodore Roosevelt pre-deployment workup in 2015, the objects were present so consistently that the Gimbal and Go Fast FLIR recordings were made; the training cycle was nearly shut down due to safety concerns from the proximity of the objects to flight corridors.

A near-miss incident in which one of the objects was found stationary directly at the entrance to the squadron's restricted working area resulted in a pilot canceling his mission after nearly striking the object at close range. Graves estimated only approximately 5% of UAP encounters in his experience were ever reported, due to professional stigma and the absence of formal reporting pathways.

Notes on the 2004 Nimitz Tic Tac encounter

Commander David Fravor described the object encountered on November 14, 2004, off Baja California in detail: approximately 40 feet in length, smooth and white, with no wings, no visible propulsion system, no windows, and no probes. The object had been observed from the USS Princeton radar for two weeks prior to the intercept, operating between 80,000 ft and sea level and disappearing from radar before Fravor's F/A-18s arrived on station. When Fravor descended to engage, the object moved to mirror his approach and then instantly accelerated to a pre-briefed combat air patrol point some distance away — a waypoint that had never been broadcast on open frequencies — within seconds.

Notes on nuclear-site UAP incidents

An overlapping pattern of UAP activity at nuclear weapons test and storage facilities has been documented across multiple witnesses. At Vandenberg Air Force Base in September 1964, Air Force photo instrumentation specialist Lt. Bob Jacobs filmed an Atlas missile test during which an unidentified object entered the frame, tracked the dummy nuclear warhead, fired what appeared to be a beam at the warhead, and exited the frame — subsequently resulting in the warhead tumbling out of its ballistic trajectory. Jacobs' records were subsequently denied to exist by the Air Force, which claimed no person named Robert Jacobs had served at Vandenberg — a denial Jacobs contested with his DD-214 and officer efficiency reports. Between 2003 and 2005, five additional UAP incidents were recorded at Vandenberg, including a massive glowing red square reported by Boeing contractors hovering over missile defense sites.

Notes on Soviet cases

The Soviet Union conducted parallel UFO crash retrieval operations from at least 1968 onward. Researcher Anton Anfalov documented a database of crash retrievals compiled through interviews with hundreds of Soviet and Ukrainian military veterans, with primary storage and reverse engineering facilities identified at Zhukovskyy Air Base (the Soviet equivalent of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base) and later at underground installations in the Ural Mountains and Novosibirsk.

See also

• List of UFO cases
• List of anonymous alleged UFO witnesses
• 2023 UAP Congressional Hearing

References